The two sat and watched the stars flow by them in space. It was more intriguing then she would of thought it'd be, the stars were so much vibrant and more up here then on Earth . "Sorry about leaving you with the stupid Frog's chores, I just knew if I started bidding against you the price would of just gone up more. I mean 6 months is a long time, I'll split it with you if you want, I think i'm more to blame for it away" Natsumi offered.
"It's fine, I don't mind doing house chores, besides if I don't do it right Keroro ends up doing it himself anyway. He takes to these domestic tasks better then I do. It's any wonder how he became a Sargent." Giroro mused.
"I guess he must have some qualities that made him seem fit to lead you guys. But I don't really know how military rank is decided"
"I will admit, he has leadership qualities, ever since we were younger he's been great at ordering me and Dororo around. He is also is great at forming plans under pressure. As much as I give him flak I am happy to follow his lead... well most of the time."
"It's crazy to think you three were friends since you were kids, small world huh?"
"Yeah" he said softly as he watched a planet drift past their view, he couldn't help smile softly as he remembered his own planet and childhood.
"I'm bored!" Keroro whined as he and Tamama walked into the room. "This ship is so boring!" he complained.
"I take back everything I said." Giroro deadpanned. "it's only been like a day Keroro!"
"I know, it's been too long since we've done something to quench our boredom" the green one said annoyed.
"I have a pretty entertaining way to fix your boredom, kukuku" Kururu appeared with a laugh, they all slightly jumped at the suddenness of his arrival.
"Kururu my saviour!" Keroro beamed.
"Here old man hold this" the yellow frog tossed Giroro a long cloth, the smirk on his face was evident and make Giroro's skin scrawl as he wondered what the yellow devil was planning, knowing him it wasn't anything good.
"A towel? What use would I have for this? We absorb water through our skins" Giroro asked annoyed.
"Trust me you're gonna want it in a second kukuku"
"For what?!" he shouted worried.
he pointed a familiar gun at him before he could react "I press" his finger pulled the trigger.
Giroro was absorbed in a white light while everyone watched and waited. As a angry blonde haired Pekoponian emerged to strangle the yellow Keronian.
"Stop shooting me with things!" He yelled, at the little frog laughing in his grasp, as he shook him violently to and fro.
"Ah!" Natsumi screamed looking away the red vibrant on her face. Causing Giroro to look at her in concern as she refused to look at him.
"You might want to cover up your shame old man, kukuku" the yellow devil laughed.
Giroro felt like he died of embarrassment as he pulled the towel up to cover himself. "I-I'm so sorry" he covered his face with his hand in shame. While the Sargent and Private laughed at him mercilessly.
"It's not funny" he growled.
"It actually is, you look interesting as a Pekoponian Giroro gerogerogeroi" he laughed.
"Wait a minute" Natsumi said looking at his face in uncertainty. She walked up closer, eyes studying every feature of his face. He was starting to sweat at the closeness and staring "It was you?!" she accused.
"W-what?" he asked confused but worried.
"Your the prince who danced with at the ball!" she said angrily "Why'd you never tell me, was it some weird invasion plan?" she felt kind of hurt that such a good memory might have been a cruel joke on her.
"That's strange I don't remember us ever using the "We Can Make Everyone Alive" gun on us. I think I would of remembered Giroro in Pekoponian form" Keroro laughed "You do look ridiculous"
"Hey!" Giroro scolded "and I did that on my own" he said bitterly. "I was researching what a Pekopon ball was" he said defensively.
"You didn't know what a ball was? We used to play Soccer" Keroro asked confused.
"He means the dance. He danced with me at Momoka's ball" Natsumi snapped at him.
"Why didn't it give him clothes?" Tamama asked confused.
"What?" Giroro asked, it was a weird question.
"The animals we zapped got clothes when they transformed." Tamama explained.
"That's because I made it for Pekoponian animals and not us, it had no frame of reference for clothing" Kururu explained.
"How long does it last?" Giroro asked annoyed
"like 2 hours, you should probably get some clothes kukuku"
"I wanna see what I look like as a human too!" Keroro enthused.
"Me too!" Tamama followed suit.
"Let's find some clothes first" Natsumi deadpanned.
After the chaos was over and the clothes were gotten 4 very fabulous human men stood before her. Much to her dismay. They looked so odd as people, looking nothing like their keronian counterparts. There hair colours matched their afros instead of their skins or hats which she found a bit odd.
"Now we can do Pekonponian stuff that we couldn't do before!" Keroro laughed evilly. "Do you know what this means Private?"
"We can eat twice the amount of food?" Tamama enthused.
"No better! We can enjoy many Pekoponian exclusive activities like Basketball!"
"We're in the middle of space, where do you expect to find a court" Giroro groaned.
"you're right, scratch that let's go find Fuyuki! He'll find it awesome I just know it"
"And Momochi!" Tamama cheered.
they ran through the ship sloppily on their new legs which they weren't quite used to yet. Into the common area where the humans were.
They ran up to Fuyuki and Momoka who stood next to each other talking, well Fuyuki was talking about aliens and space while his silent lover just sat and listened onto his every word in a lovesick manner. She didn't understand haft of it but that didn't stop her from hanging off of every word.
"Guess who?!" Keroro enthused hands pointing towards himself with a cheeky grin.
"S-sarge? Is that you?!" Fuyuki asked at hearing the familiar voice, his eyes sparkled in excitement.
"The one and only!" Keroro replied.
"That's so awesome!" Fuyuki beamed.
"I'm here too Momochi!" the younger man shouted happily.
"You all turned yourselves Pekoponians without me?!" Dororo sobbed, in the corner, trauma switch was on.
"I can turn you too if you want kukuku" Kururu offered with the gun in hand. The blue one nodded. Eagerly wanting to join in the fun.
"Wait don-" Giroro tried to warn him.
"I press" but it was to late as the blue one took one look at his pale cloth-less form and realised he had made a mistake, covering his shame with his hands.
"Your so mean!" he whined "ninja vanish" he said before disappearing into a puff of smoke.
"This was a great idea Kururu" Keroro enthused. "Shame I can't do all my pekoponian ideas I have though cause we don't have any equipment at the moment. What's a fun Pekoponian activity that we could do with little to no prep?" he asked hand on chin while he thought, he clicked his fingers, he had an idea. "What was that thing Giroro mentioned earlier a ball?"
"You can't be serious?" Giroro groaned.
"I'm dead serious Corporal, you got to experience a part of Pekoponian culture without us. Now it's our turn, let's get this party started!" he turned too Kururu "music if you'll please Sargent major"
a funky beat started to play, quickly the Sargent started to bob his head in the beat. "come on Private let's get our groove on!" he grabbed his hands and twirled him around on the dance floor, in a fun and playful dance. The young man was loving the attention from his Sargent.
Momoka stared out longingly with a shy smile as her friend enjoyed dancing with his crush. A soft sigh left her lips as the boy next to her seemed to take notice "Nishizawa do you want to dance? It looks like they are having fun?" Fuyuki offered.
Her eyes shrunk in surprise as she turned to him with a look of pure joy "O-of course" she felt like she was about to cry tears of joy as he extended a hand to her. Which she happily held, his hand was in hers see could feel her heart beat harder. And as they danced it felt like they had been sweep to another place, it was like they were the only one's in the room. It didn't matter what they danced, how goofy it looked because for the moment he was hers and that was all that mattered.
Keroro had been throwing his partner do-si-do style when he noticed his long time friend staring annoyed at him not joining in the festivities and next to him Natsumi had that soft smile she had when she wanted to join something but didn't know how to ask. "Come on and get boogie with it solider, that's an order" he teased.
Giroro groaned as he face palmed. "It does look like fun" Natsumi mused next to him "after all you don't want to disappoint your Sargent, do you?" she teased, grabbing his hand. He blushed at the contact and how close she was.
"Y-yeah" he stuttered, it was so much easier back then to keep his cool when she didn't know it was him he could act with more confidence. He lead her out to the dance floor and waltzed with her.
"Where did you learn to dance?" she asked softly.
"I set up a minefield in accordance with the steps, every wrong step was very painful" he explained. The training was worth it too, as silly as it was to dance he would go through it all again for her.
"That's one way to learn I suppose" she said with a giggle. He was handsome like this, so tall. It was like her frog had become a beautiful prince. His hair a pretty blonde, the scar down his face a lot fainter and sharper features that defined his face. This was indeed the same man who danced with her at the ball. "What made you interested in the ball?" she questioned.
"It was large room full of powerful people, I thought I'd take advantage of the opportunity if Keroro wasn't going to" he scoffed, it was a lie, he's been doing that a lot lately. Those eyes seemed to sadden at his answer. "But then I saw you alone, so I thought I'd ask you to dance" he confessed. If he was telling the whole truth it'd be that he wanted to dance with her from the start. She was the only reason he went to the ball.
"Well that was nice of you. I did have fun, I still can't believe it was you, so thank you for that" she smiled softly as she spoke. They twirled around and waltzed in the other direction.
"Y-your welcome, I-I'm glad you liked dancing with me" the blush was so much more noticeable on his pale face.
The minutes ticked by as there dance party evolved into a karaoke contest somehow and after singing along to the Keromarch the couple sat down away from the listening ears of their friends to a quiet corridor where they stared out at the beautiful reach of space.
"Natsumi, I- I have a weird question." he started breaking the long pause of silence, he looked at her timidly "Do you like me like this?" he asked uncertainty in his eyes that burned into her soul. "As a Pekoponian" he clarified. She felt guilty that the answer yes was even a thought. She turned back away from that emotionally vulnerable face to a planet that they were flying past. Giroro wasn't some prince in disguise like in fairy tales, he wasn't under some curse.
He was like her, he had a planet of his own and people like him, and asking him to change into a human for her was unthinkable as him asking her to change into a frog. Life wasn't a storybook where one could just change everything about themselves for a happy ending and she knew that. And she knew deep down he would never be truly happy as a human.
"I could never ask you to change who you are" she said with a soft smile "I told you before that I like you for who you are, and I stand by it" she held his hand in hers "No matter what form you take your Giroro, and that's all that matters"
he closes his eyes with a soft smile hands still entwined as his body turned white and shone with a beautiful soft light. His large hand shrunk in her grasp into it's true shape. The prince had turned back into a frog and she was fine with that. Because this was Giroro.